Some 34 years ago, in the early 1990's, the abandoned railroad track from Covington to Slidell was acquired by St. Tammany Parish for a bike trail project under the new "Rails to Trails" federal program.
That decision led to the development of Tammany Trace, a premiere biking trail that has since been expanded, improved, and linked to key parish locations through Covington, Abita Springs, Mandeville, Lacombe, and Slidell.
The following video showcases the tremendous effort made by local officials as they contacted and coordinated with dozens of federal, state and parish agencies as well as a number of private organizations and citizens groups to make it all possible. The document signing took place at the northern end of the Covington train depot.
A key event in the acquisition process was the sale of the former railroad right-of-way, then owned by Railroad Land Co., with the cooperation of Richard "Dick" Blossman and the Blossman family.
The video tells about the contributions made by Kevin Davis and a large number of other parish and municipal officials, as well as the efforts by several state and federal agencies and citizen groups, among them the New Orleans bicycling clubs, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, and the area chambers of commerce. Bill Keller with the New Orleans biking group shared his thoughts on how important this Rails To Trails project would become.
Also spotlighted were the elected officials at the federal and state level who helped coordinate the approval of the many agencies involved.
effort to bring all the parties together for the proposed project.
Covington Train Depot, before it became a restaurant seating area.
securing the railroad corridor was.
